Monday, August 13, 2012

We toured old haunts today: Clio, where I spent the first nine years of life and where Gill spent all her pre-college years of U.S. education, and Ann Arbor, where Gillian attended the University of Michigan.

We met up with great and important old friends: Ann O'Dell, Gillian's closest friend during her primary school years; Joe Chase, part of the Swart-Chase-Gorman triumvirate of Welch Boulevard; and Al Larese, with whom we have met up every day.

Gill will have to say for herself what Al was to her, but for me: Al was a friend at the start of my journey, having only just left the home of my parents, headed out into the world. He worked for me and played with me, something he still has abundant capacity for (play, that is). Gillian found him on Facebook this year, and the weekend was very much geared toward reunion with Al (that's him, after dark, in Ann Arbor, with Gill).

Sunday, August 12, 2012

I dropped Gill, who is traveling with me this weekend, off at her friend Mary's yesterday. Then I headed up to Saginaw Bay. I wanted to search for sea glass.

I had realized, too late, that I had not taken any of my mother's ashes from the urn at Helen's house. I had been engaged in conversation, sometimes near arguments, with my sisters about my hope to take some ashes to Mackinac. (Conversations not about ash depositing, but about the distance to Mackinac and ride-alongs.) We never really settled the issue, and I never collected the ashes.

I went to the Lake Huron bay hoping to find a spectacular chunk of glass. I did actually encounter a massive piece of red glass--so unburnished that I nearly cut myself on it. I should have removed it from the beach to protect the volleyball players, who were not in evidence. I wasn't thinking, I just buried it in the sand. I left with one misshapen, new-ish piece of white glass...but at least I found one!

I am in Michigan, from whence I came. And I really did need a Halo Burger.

The HB comes with ketchup, mustard, mayo, onion, tomato, lettuce, and pickles. I ordered mine minus the ketchup, adding olives. I ate it so quickly that I didn't remember to take its picture. I did snap my cheesy tater-tots, which I didn't fully consume, but couldn't resist buying.

My husband Victor registered a protest that Halo Burger unwisely flattens its patties during cooking, squeezing out juices and such. However, my husband Victor also likes grilled meats well done, so his inconsistencies on the point of meat juice void his input. So there.